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    Best Ways for a Stay at Home Mother to Enter the Workforce
    Priorities, planning, efforts in the right direction and persistence are the key to not only getting your foot through the door, but also helps you in rising to great heights throughout your career. Finding the most suitable career direction must be given preference and most of your planning time in the earlier stages of job search, it is essential that you spend more time to investigate and arrive at your ideal career first and then narrow down your job search. You will find that such effective planning will help you during the job search and later on in maintaining a healthy life-work balance.Internet Resources as Motivation to Re-entrants The career articles online and the other resources such as the Working Mother magazine are a great resource for anyone looking for the right company to work with or struggling with work life balance. The magazine publishes some wonderful references listing the top 100 family friendly company list. These could be the ones you might like to focus on if you are looking for a healthy life-work balance once you join your new job.In this century it is so essential to be internet savvy and to keep up-to-date on the technological advances. All the help that you get from the internet is certainly good enough to motivate you towards the re-entry in the job market. Subscribe to the free newsletters that provide you with free tips and advice on new career trends. Research on the internet and you shall get what you are looking for.Volunteering One of the best ways to put your foot through the door is through volunteering, volunteer or apply for internships, the best way to learn and gain experience is to learn on the job. You also get to learn the company’s culture and will help you in making a decision whether to join the organization you are volunteering with
    t do you want?’ or customized ‘How do you want it?’.

    In a Service Encounter of the Third Kind, your company looks to the customer with interest and patience, and asks the somewhat unlikely question: ‘What do you want to become?’

    Most customers, if they are given an opportunity to reflect on this very open-ended question, realize that they are, in fact, still a bit uncertain about the future and will reply, ‘Actually we’re not entirely sure yet.’ And then, availing themselves of the sincerity and interest you have shown, might add, ‘Could we talk about it together?’

    Your question, and their response, opens the door to a very different and collaborative conversation: a Service Encounter of the Third Kind.

    Your company’s focus shifts again as you enter into a new dialogue with customers, seeking to understand and add value to their plans and possibilities for the future. These conversations, held in a mood of mutual discovery, are concerned with much more than just meeting a customer’s existing business requirements. By exploring scenarios and possibilities, you and your customers work together to resolve breakdowns that might emerge only in the future.

    For example, innovative financial service companies in Japan consistently ask their customers, ‘What do you want to become?’ And customers consistently answer, ‘I want to become a homeowner, and I want to pass the home on to my children.’

    But housing prices in Japan have climbed beyond the average customer’s reach. What was the jointly planned and innovative solution? Mortgages with payment terms spanning two generations – and customer relationships that endure beyond a lifetime.

    In this third kind of customer service, companies must be willing to a

    At the Interview, Don't Answer Questions
    Many years ago when I hated what I was doing for a living I was encouraged by my career coach to write down several short stories about times and events in my life where I influenced the outcome. I was stumped at first, but after a few days, I came up with over 15 pages of stories of times in my life where I influenced the outcome and either grew myself and/or bettered the existence of either myself or others around me.So what does this have to do with a job interview?If you read other books on job interviews, you'll notice they feed you lists of interview questions to learn answers to. An interview is not an interrogation, however, it's a conversation. To make it that way you need to come armed with a multitude of small stories about both your business and personal life.When you go into an interview, you need to leave your nerves at the door. The best way to prepare is to be yourself. The best way to be yourself is to tell your own story (or stories). So before the interview have your stories ready to go.This is especially great for the competency-based interview being used more today. In a traditional interview, the interviewer will ask you questions focused on whether you have the skills and knowledge needed to do the job. A competency-based interview goes further by asking you additional questions about your character and personal attributes that can better determine whether you fit their corporate culture. These are called "behavioral competencies".A competency-based interviewer will spend about half the interview on your job skills, and about half on your behavioral competencies. He or she will be looking for evidence of how you have acted in real situations in the past. So having your stories ready to go plays very well for this type of interview.A company wants to fin
    What makes a company successful over the long, long term? What characterizes the service relationship between companies and customers who do business together for decades, even generations?

    How can your company stay close to your customers even as times change, technologies change and expectations continually rise?

    What can you do to ensure your company’s future offers are relevant and valuable in the market?

    One powerful step forward is to explore your customers’ future needs and interests by cultivating Service Encounters of The Third Kind. In these unique encounters, your precious and loyal relationships for the future are built by your words and actions – today.

    Let’s start by looking closely at Service Encounters of the First and Second Kinds.

    Service Encounters Of The First Kind

    In Service Encounters of the First Kind, your company approaches the customer with the most basic of all customer service questions: ‘What do you want (or need)?’

    Your customer replies with equal simplicity, ‘I want your product X, by time and date Y, at your listed price Z.’

    Your company’s priority and service focus should now be clear: Get the customer’s order right, and get it right the first time!

    Campaigns to accomplish this objective are widespread and easy to spot. ‘Do It Right!’, ‘Zero Defects’ and ‘Six Sigma Quality’ are all examples of slogans companies use to focus their workers on getting the basics right, first time, every time.

    In this kind of encounter, breakdowns in service delivery are bad news. They are to be identified, analyzed, solved and, most of all, eliminated. The service system must be streamlined and standardized in every possible way.

    Companies that consistently succeed in this undertaking (delivering X by Y at Z price) earn their reputations in the market as steady and reliable suppliers. This leads, as it should, to customer satisfaction.

    Training in these organizations is focused on product knowledge, technical skills, thoroughness, accuracy and adhering to proven procedures.

    Marketing consists of powerful efforts to push proven products in the market. The customer is ‘sold to’.

    Looking into the management mindset of these first kind organizations, we usually find a keen interest in cutting costs, increasing volume and decreasing cycle-time.

    This need for speed is important: Competitors are often closing in with similar products, faster delivery and even lower prices. In this kind of competitive situation, profit margins are paper-thin and companies thrive only through continual increases in volume.

    So far so good. But if we look into the staff mindset of such an organization, we find a different way of thinking altogether. Frontline service employees, focused on getting it right the first time, trained to carefully follow all procedures, and encouraged by management to achieve more and more results in less and less time, find themselves answering the phone, opening the mail or meeting the next customer in person thinking to themselves, ‘I hope this customer isn’t a pain in the neck!’

    After all, customers with questions and unusual requests generally take more time, lead to more errors and can result in a general slowing down of the whole system.

    No wonder so many customer requests for anything out of the ordinary are met with the retort: ‘We don’t do it that way’ or ‘That’s not how our procedures work here.’

    Service Encounters Of The Second Kind

    In Service Encounters of the Second Kind, your company approaches the customer with a question that goes beyond standard offers of X product at Y time and Z price. Instead of the basic ‘What do you want?’, your service representatives now pose a more inviting question: ‘How do you want it?’

    Faced with such an open-ended question, the customer naturally replies, ‘I want it the way I want it. I want it special. I want it my way!’

    Your company’s service focus must change if you are to deliver what your customer wants just the way your customer wants it. Special products, unique combinations, odd-hour deliveries, different schedules for pricing or payment – all are new challenges for your service team to understand and accomplish.

    In Service Encounters of the Second Kind, breakdowns in the service delivery system are to be expected at first – and then overcome. Responsiveness and flexibility become your prime objectives. The organization focuses on being adaptable, accommodating and open to changing requests.

    Your service system improves, not through vigorous efforts to standardize but through your willingness and commitment to customize!

    Companies that succeed in this challenging undertaking (giving their customers what they want, when and where they want it and just the way they want it) earn their reputations in the market as quick, responsive and open to ongoing change.

    When a company is recognized for welcoming and fulfil-ling unique customer requests, the result is not only customer satisfaction, but a well-deserved and valuable reputation for customer delight.

    In these responsive second kind organizations, training programs include active listening, creative problem-solving, and attitude-building activities. Staff learn how to find a ‘yes’ for the customer rather than rolling out the standard ‘no’.

    Marketing isn’t a broadside of mass advertising. Rather, it’s a selection of specially modified programs gently pushing customized products to key segments of the market. Customers aren’t ‘sold to’ here, they are served.

    In the staff and management mindset of these organizations, we find a shared and sincere commitment to ‘bend over backwards’ for the customer.

    For example, one adapting company proclaims, ‘We’ll go out of our way for you!’ But this catchy phrase reveals the remnants of a first-kind encounter company being forced into second-kind levels of service. Here management is essentially saying: ‘We still have our way. But don’t worry, we’ll go out of our way just for you.’

    You can see this contrast in the advertising of two fast food restaurant chains. A&W features large posters that read: ‘You’ll love our way!’ (That’s Service Encounters of the First Kind.)

    Compare this with the slogan and jingle for Burger King: ‘Have it your way!’ (That’s Service Encounters of the Second Kind.)

    At which establishment will you feel more comfortable saying, ‘Two chicken burgers, please. One with extra ketchup and no pickles, and one cooked rare, hold the onions and two packs of mustard on the side.’?

    Burger King goes even further with its follow-up campaign: ‘Sometimes You’ve Just Gotta Break the Rules.’ That’s a direct invitation to highly customized Service Encounters of the Second Kind: ‘Have it your way.’

    Service Encounters Of The Third Kind

    In Service Encounters of the Third Kind, your company welcomes the customer in a manner completely different from the standardized ‘What do you want?’ or customized ‘How do you want it?’.

    In a Service Encounter of the Third Kind, your company looks to the customer with interest and patience, and asks the somewhat unlikely question: ‘What do you want to become?’

    Most customers, if they are given an opportunity to reflect on this very open-ended question, realize that they are, in fact, still a bit uncertain about the future and will reply, ‘Actually we’re not entirely sure yet.’ And then, availing themselves of the sincerity and interest you have shown, might add, ‘Could we talk about it together?’

    Your question, and their response, opens the door to a very different and collaborative conversation: a Service Encounter of the Third Kind.

    Your company’s focus shifts again as you enter into a new dialogue with customers, seeking to understand and add value to their plans and possibilities for the future. These conversations, held in a mood of mutual discovery, are concerned with much more than just meeting a customer’s existing business requirements. By exploring scenarios and possibilities, you and your customers work together to resolve breakdowns that might emerge only in the future.

    For example, innovative financial service companies in Japan consistently ask their customers, ‘What do you want to become?’ And customers consistently answer, ‘I want to become a homeowner, and I want to pass the home on to my children.’

    But housing prices in Japan have climbed beyond the average customer’s reach. What was the jointly planned and innovative solution? Mortgages with payment terms spanning two generations – and customer relationships that endure beyond a lifetime.

    In this third kind of customer service, companies must be willing to ad

    IT Support for Small Businesses - How to Build Your Business Without Breaking the Bank
    Building a small business is hard work. In the initial period of most small businesses, one or two people are trying to do everything until the business grows enough to diversify functions and hire assistance. While you are trying to develop products and/or services, you are also trying to build infrastructure to support the business functions. Chances are, if you are the kind of person who is focusing on product or service development, you probably are not the person with the breadth technology information to build your own infrastructure.Our experience working with small businesses is that the creative folks who design the products and services and actually manage the business don't know a great deal about computer technology, particularly new technologies. Many of these people don't even want to know how or why a system works. All they want to know is that this system and this application will help them accomplish their business goals and what they must do to make it work.When a fledgling business moves from an idea to a real product or a real service and begins to work with customers who want that product or service, technology becomes essential. In today's markets it is difficult to be in business without a website and internet commerce applications. These, in turn, require management and maintenance, as well as security. As the business continues to grow, it becomes necessary to manage bookkeeping, customer service, inventory, and staff. This, in turn, requires more technology.In a world in which new technologies emerge daily, keeping up with change is a full time job. Knowing which systems and which applications will meet the needs of a growing business in the present and in the future requires knowledge, experience, and technological skills. Unfortunately, none of that is free. There are three ways to
    ucceed in this undertaking (delivering X by Y at Z price) earn their reputations in the market as steady and reliable suppliers. This leads, as it should, to customer satisfaction.

    Training in these organizations is focused on product knowledge, technical skills, thoroughness, accuracy and adhering to proven procedures.

    Marketing consists of powerful efforts to push proven products in the market. The customer is ‘sold to’.

    Looking into the management mindset of these first kind organizations, we usually find a keen interest in cutting costs, increasing volume and decreasing cycle-time.

    This need for speed is important: Competitors are often closing in with similar products, faster delivery and even lower prices. In this kind of competitive situation, profit margins are paper-thin and companies thrive only through continual increases in volume.

    So far so good. But if we look into the staff mindset of such an organization, we find a different way of thinking altogether. Frontline service employees, focused on getting it right the first time, trained to carefully follow all procedures, and encouraged by management to achieve more and more results in less and less time, find themselves answering the phone, opening the mail or meeting the next customer in person thinking to themselves, ‘I hope this customer isn’t a pain in the neck!’

    After all, customers with questions and unusual requests generally take more time, lead to more errors and can result in a general slowing down of the whole system.

    No wonder so many customer requests for anything out of the ordinary are met with the retort: ‘We don’t do it that way’ or ‘That’s not how our procedures work here.’

    Service Encounters Of The Second Kind

    In Service Encounters of the Second Kind, your company approaches the customer with a question that goes beyond standard offers of X product at Y time and Z price. Instead of the basic ‘What do you want?’, your service representatives now pose a more inviting question: ‘How do you want it?’

    Faced with such an open-ended question, the customer naturally replies, ‘I want it the way I want it. I want it special. I want it my way!’

    Your company’s service focus must change if you are to deliver what your customer wants just the way your customer wants it. Special products, unique combinations, odd-hour deliveries, different schedules for pricing or payment – all are new challenges for your service team to understand and accomplish.

    In Service Encounters of the Second Kind, breakdowns in the service delivery system are to be expected at first – and then overcome. Responsiveness and flexibility become your prime objectives. The organization focuses on being adaptable, accommodating and open to changing requests.

    Your service system improves, not through vigorous efforts to standardize but through your willingness and commitment to customize!

    Companies that succeed in this challenging undertaking (giving their customers what they want, when and where they want it and just the way they want it) earn their reputations in the market as quick, responsive and open to ongoing change.

    When a company is recognized for welcoming and fulfil-ling unique customer requests, the result is not only customer satisfaction, but a well-deserved and valuable reputation for customer delight.

    In these responsive second kind organizations, training programs include active listening, creative problem-solving, and attitude-building activities. Staff learn how to find a ‘yes’ for the customer rather than rolling out the standard ‘no’.

    Marketing isn’t a broadside of mass advertising. Rather, it’s a selection of specially modified programs gently pushing customized products to key segments of the market. Customers aren’t ‘sold to’ here, they are served.

    In the staff and management mindset of these organizations, we find a shared and sincere commitment to ‘bend over backwards’ for the customer.

    For example, one adapting company proclaims, ‘We’ll go out of our way for you!’ But this catchy phrase reveals the remnants of a first-kind encounter company being forced into second-kind levels of service. Here management is essentially saying: ‘We still have our way. But don’t worry, we’ll go out of our way just for you.’

    You can see this contrast in the advertising of two fast food restaurant chains. A&W features large posters that read: ‘You’ll love our way!’ (That’s Service Encounters of the First Kind.)

    Compare this with the slogan and jingle for Burger King: ‘Have it your way!’ (That’s Service Encounters of the Second Kind.)

    At which establishment will you feel more comfortable saying, ‘Two chicken burgers, please. One with extra ketchup and no pickles, and one cooked rare, hold the onions and two packs of mustard on the side.’?

    Burger King goes even further with its follow-up campaign: ‘Sometimes You’ve Just Gotta Break the Rules.’ That’s a direct invitation to highly customized Service Encounters of the Second Kind: ‘Have it your way.’

    Service Encounters Of The Third Kind

    In Service Encounters of the Third Kind, your company welcomes the customer in a manner completely different from the standardized ‘What do you want?’ or customized ‘How do you want it?’.

    In a Service Encounter of the Third Kind, your company looks to the customer with interest and patience, and asks the somewhat unlikely question: ‘What do you want to become?’

    Most customers, if they are given an opportunity to reflect on this very open-ended question, realize that they are, in fact, still a bit uncertain about the future and will reply, ‘Actually we’re not entirely sure yet.’ And then, availing themselves of the sincerity and interest you have shown, might add, ‘Could we talk about it together?’

    Your question, and their response, opens the door to a very different and collaborative conversation: a Service Encounter of the Third Kind.

    Your company’s focus shifts again as you enter into a new dialogue with customers, seeking to understand and add value to their plans and possibilities for the future. These conversations, held in a mood of mutual discovery, are concerned with much more than just meeting a customer’s existing business requirements. By exploring scenarios and possibilities, you and your customers work together to resolve breakdowns that might emerge only in the future.

    For example, innovative financial service companies in Japan consistently ask their customers, ‘What do you want to become?’ And customers consistently answer, ‘I want to become a homeowner, and I want to pass the home on to my children.’

    But housing prices in Japan have climbed beyond the average customer’s reach. What was the jointly planned and innovative solution? Mortgages with payment terms spanning two generations – and customer relationships that endure beyond a lifetime.

    In this third kind of customer service, companies must be willing to a

    Featuring Thousands Of Crabs On A Beach Otherwise Populated By Human Beings
    I am not going to go into all the individual commercials shown during Superbowl XLI. I am going to mention a few that seemed to show some strategic or executional brilliance, even if these still failed as a whole.Before I go into them, let me make a key introductory point. There are broadly two kinds of advertising claims. Those that are so obviously true that they require no additional support to be accepted by an audience. And those that make a point that is not easy to accept, and require some support to back up the advertising claim.One thing I noticed to be common among virtually all the ads shown at this Superbowl was the seeming inability of the Advertisers and Ad Agencies, to distinguish between these two kinds of advertising. I will illustrate this point with the following examples that came somewhat toward sound share-increasing advertising, but stopped well short of being really good commercials, for one deficiency or another.FedEx’s “Moon Office” is a 45” commercial is certainly dramatic, by virtue of being located on the moon, and showing that FedEx can handle product shipments to their customers even here on the moon. The commercial was spectacular in its ability to simulate a gravity free office, complete with the usual floating and eating and drinking problems in such an environment. It also showed something that purported to be FedEx space bus toward the end. But amazingly, the commercial dispenses with the one person who brought the good news about FedEx to the others – by having him taken out by a passing meteorite! Isn’t there a limit to dramatization? People already know that FedEx gets things everywhere reliably. What does this dramatization on the moon add to that point? Where is competitiveness? And but for the FedEx space ship, Why should we expect this moon-based dramatization of

    In Service Encounters of the Second Kind, your company approaches the customer with a question that goes beyond standard offers of X product at Y time and Z price. Instead of the basic ‘What do you want?’, your service representatives now pose a more inviting question: ‘How do you want it?’

    Faced with such an open-ended question, the customer naturally replies, ‘I want it the way I want it. I want it special. I want it my way!’

    Your company’s service focus must change if you are to deliver what your customer wants just the way your customer wants it. Special products, unique combinations, odd-hour deliveries, different schedules for pricing or payment – all are new challenges for your service team to understand and accomplish.

    In Service Encounters of the Second Kind, breakdowns in the service delivery system are to be expected at first – and then overcome. Responsiveness and flexibility become your prime objectives. The organization focuses on being adaptable, accommodating and open to changing requests.

    Your service system improves, not through vigorous efforts to standardize but through your willingness and commitment to customize!

    Companies that succeed in this challenging undertaking (giving their customers what they want, when and where they want it and just the way they want it) earn their reputations in the market as quick, responsive and open to ongoing change.

    When a company is recognized for welcoming and fulfil-ling unique customer requests, the result is not only customer satisfaction, but a well-deserved and valuable reputation for customer delight.

    In these responsive second kind organizations, training programs include active listening, creative problem-solving, and attitude-building activities. Staff learn how to find a ‘yes’ for the customer rather than rolling out the standard ‘no’.

    Marketing isn’t a broadside of mass advertising. Rather, it’s a selection of specially modified programs gently pushing customized products to key segments of the market. Customers aren’t ‘sold to’ here, they are served.

    In the staff and management mindset of these organizations, we find a shared and sincere commitment to ‘bend over backwards’ for the customer.

    For example, one adapting company proclaims, ‘We’ll go out of our way for you!’ But this catchy phrase reveals the remnants of a first-kind encounter company being forced into second-kind levels of service. Here management is essentially saying: ‘We still have our way. But don’t worry, we’ll go out of our way just for you.’

    You can see this contrast in the advertising of two fast food restaurant chains. A&W features large posters that read: ‘You’ll love our way!’ (That’s Service Encounters of the First Kind.)

    Compare this with the slogan and jingle for Burger King: ‘Have it your way!’ (That’s Service Encounters of the Second Kind.)

    At which establishment will you feel more comfortable saying, ‘Two chicken burgers, please. One with extra ketchup and no pickles, and one cooked rare, hold the onions and two packs of mustard on the side.’?

    Burger King goes even further with its follow-up campaign: ‘Sometimes You’ve Just Gotta Break the Rules.’ That’s a direct invitation to highly customized Service Encounters of the Second Kind: ‘Have it your way.’

    Service Encounters Of The Third Kind

    In Service Encounters of the Third Kind, your company welcomes the customer in a manner completely different from the standardized ‘What do you want?’ or customized ‘How do you want it?’.

    In a Service Encounter of the Third Kind, your company looks to the customer with interest and patience, and asks the somewhat unlikely question: ‘What do you want to become?’

    Most customers, if they are given an opportunity to reflect on this very open-ended question, realize that they are, in fact, still a bit uncertain about the future and will reply, ‘Actually we’re not entirely sure yet.’ And then, availing themselves of the sincerity and interest you have shown, might add, ‘Could we talk about it together?’

    Your question, and their response, opens the door to a very different and collaborative conversation: a Service Encounter of the Third Kind.

    Your company’s focus shifts again as you enter into a new dialogue with customers, seeking to understand and add value to their plans and possibilities for the future. These conversations, held in a mood of mutual discovery, are concerned with much more than just meeting a customer’s existing business requirements. By exploring scenarios and possibilities, you and your customers work together to resolve breakdowns that might emerge only in the future.

    For example, innovative financial service companies in Japan consistently ask their customers, ‘What do you want to become?’ And customers consistently answer, ‘I want to become a homeowner, and I want to pass the home on to my children.’

    But housing prices in Japan have climbed beyond the average customer’s reach. What was the jointly planned and innovative solution? Mortgages with payment terms spanning two generations – and customer relationships that endure beyond a lifetime.

    In this third kind of customer service, companies must be willing to a

    How to Survive the Jungle of Web Copywriting
    It would be surprising if you can find a kid who at an early age would admit to a desire to become a web copywriter. Kids generally want glamorous or inspiring jobs such as teachers, actors, doctors, astronauts, firemen, and beauty queens, but you will never hear them speak of being a web copywriter.Nevertheless, if that’s what you are right now, either by choice or by destiny, you should do everything you can to obtain as much profit from your present job. The rules of web copywriting jungle are harsh, and if you don’t know when and when not to play by the rules, it’s only a short amount of time before you get preyed upon by the larger copywriting predators in the field.When that happens, you might already be too hurt and weak to get back to your feet once more. If you don’t want that to happen to you, it’s time to start acting and moving!Survival Tips in the Web Copywriting IndustryMODESTY WILL GET YOU SOMEWHERE…but unfortunately, it won’t get your name splattered at all the important websites in the Internet. A healthy amount of modesty is always good in order for you to work well with your clients and colleagues, but too much of this will not make you profit as much as you should from your job.There are certain instances when you need to talk about your KSAs – knowledge, skills, and abilities – as well as the vast amount of experience you have in the field of copywriting. If you’re not going to talk about yourself, nobody will!QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE – If you’ve been around long enough to be considered the Methusalah of the web copywriting industry, then simply stating how many years you’ve been working as a web copywriter is usually enough for all clients. People believe greatly in the power of experience. That’s why the maxim “experience is the best teacher” is a clich? today.<
    de-building activities. Staff learn how to find a ‘yes’ for the customer rather than rolling out the standard ‘no’.

    Marketing isn’t a broadside of mass advertising. Rather, it’s a selection of specially modified programs gently pushing customized products to key segments of the market. Customers aren’t ‘sold to’ here, they are served.

    In the staff and management mindset of these organizations, we find a shared and sincere commitment to ‘bend over backwards’ for the customer.

    For example, one adapting company proclaims, ‘We’ll go out of our way for you!’ But this catchy phrase reveals the remnants of a first-kind encounter company being forced into second-kind levels of service. Here management is essentially saying: ‘We still have our way. But don’t worry, we’ll go out of our way just for you.’

    You can see this contrast in the advertising of two fast food restaurant chains. A&W features large posters that read: ‘You’ll love our way!’ (That’s Service Encounters of the First Kind.)

    Compare this with the slogan and jingle for Burger King: ‘Have it your way!’ (That’s Service Encounters of the Second Kind.)

    At which establishment will you feel more comfortable saying, ‘Two chicken burgers, please. One with extra ketchup and no pickles, and one cooked rare, hold the onions and two packs of mustard on the side.’?

    Burger King goes even further with its follow-up campaign: ‘Sometimes You’ve Just Gotta Break the Rules.’ That’s a direct invitation to highly customized Service Encounters of the Second Kind: ‘Have it your way.’

    Service Encounters Of The Third Kind

    In Service Encounters of the Third Kind, your company welcomes the customer in a manner completely different from the standardized ‘What do you want?’ or customized ‘How do you want it?’.

    In a Service Encounter of the Third Kind, your company looks to the customer with interest and patience, and asks the somewhat unlikely question: ‘What do you want to become?’

    Most customers, if they are given an opportunity to reflect on this very open-ended question, realize that they are, in fact, still a bit uncertain about the future and will reply, ‘Actually we’re not entirely sure yet.’ And then, availing themselves of the sincerity and interest you have shown, might add, ‘Could we talk about it together?’

    Your question, and their response, opens the door to a very different and collaborative conversation: a Service Encounter of the Third Kind.

    Your company’s focus shifts again as you enter into a new dialogue with customers, seeking to understand and add value to their plans and possibilities for the future. These conversations, held in a mood of mutual discovery, are concerned with much more than just meeting a customer’s existing business requirements. By exploring scenarios and possibilities, you and your customers work together to resolve breakdowns that might emerge only in the future.

    For example, innovative financial service companies in Japan consistently ask their customers, ‘What do you want to become?’ And customers consistently answer, ‘I want to become a homeowner, and I want to pass the home on to my children.’

    But housing prices in Japan have climbed beyond the average customer’s reach. What was the jointly planned and innovative solution? Mortgages with payment terms spanning two generations – and customer relationships that endure beyond a lifetime.

    In this third kind of customer service, companies must be willing to a

    Online Casino Jobs - Top Five Jobs
    The UK online casino industry is booming and there are more jobs than ever, thanks in part to recent U.S. rulings that outlaw online gambling,. Companies displaced by the new laws in the U.S. are seeking new bases of operation and hiring in record numbers for online casino jobs in customer service, marketing, software and product development and finance and risk management. You can put away your croupier visors – the online casino jobs are far more likely to be in a call center or business office than on the casino floor. Here’s a list of the most wanted online casino jobs, based on the current recruitment adverts around the world.Customer Service Representative A company is only as good as its customer service, and nearly every online casino site is hiring customer service reps. Most are looking specifically for those with fluency in multiple languages, since their customers are international. The responsibilities for the customer service reps will often include translation of company documents and dealing directly with customers via telephone or online chat. Obviously, a comfort with the computer and online world is a requirement.Marketing Managers One of the hottest online casino jobs is that of marketing manager. Online marketing managers will develop marketing campaigns and often be responsible for overseeing affiliate marketing programs and advertising campaigns. The big players in the online casino game are offering big money to attract forward-thinking, exciting young minds to direct their marketing departments for brand recognition and longevity.Software Developers While poker and bingo are the staples of the online betting world, online casinos are working hard to develop new angles and games to attract a larger segment of the population. They’re actively
    t do you want?’ or customized ‘How do you want it?’.

    In a Service Encounter of the Third Kind, your company looks to the customer with interest and patience, and asks the somewhat unlikely question: ‘What do you want to become?’

    Most customers, if they are given an opportunity to reflect on this very open-ended question, realize that they are, in fact, still a bit uncertain about the future and will reply, ‘Actually we’re not entirely sure yet.’ And then, availing themselves of the sincerity and interest you have shown, might add, ‘Could we talk about it together?’

    Your question, and their response, opens the door to a very different and collaborative conversation: a Service Encounter of the Third Kind.

    Your company’s focus shifts again as you enter into a new dialogue with customers, seeking to understand and add value to their plans and possibilities for the future. These conversations, held in a mood of mutual discovery, are concerned with much more than just meeting a customer’s existing business requirements. By exploring scenarios and possibilities, you and your customers work together to resolve breakdowns that might emerge only in the future.

    For example, innovative financial service companies in Japan consistently ask their customers, ‘What do you want to become?’ And customers consistently answer, ‘I want to become a homeowner, and I want to pass the home on to my children.’

    But housing prices in Japan have climbed beyond the average customer’s reach. What was the jointly planned and innovative solution? Mortgages with payment terms spanning two generations – and customer relationships that endure beyond a lifetime.

    In this third kind of customer service, companies must be willing to adapt, modify and in some cases entirely reinvent the purpose and procedures of their business. Rather than ‘standardize’ or even ‘customize’ existing products and systems, third-kind companies must make a commitment to ‘customer-ize’ – to become whatever customers need them to become in order to work together in the future.

    For example, railroads in America thought they were in the train business many years ago and nearly went bankrupt asking the customer, ‘What type of train car do you want to travel in, where do you want to go to and at what price do you want to travel?’ They built coach cars, dining cars, sleeping cars and more.

    But since they never asked the customer, ‘What do you want to become?’, railroad companies did not foresee the need for airborne shipping and travel, and missed evolving into airline companies altogether. Today, government financial support is necessary just to keep American railroads alive.

    Companies that do evolve get noticed and earn the respect of customers as relevant, dynamic and constantly changing organizations. They are focused on and committed to the future – not stuck in the success of their past.

    Committing to Service Encounters of the Third Kind means you and your customers enter into an intimate and closely linked evolution. As changes in the business environment demand greater innovation, more flexibility and even faster response, you learn to adapt, anticipate and actively support each other.

    This association is not based on customer satisfaction or even on customer delight. Instead, the inventive and interactive quality of this relationship is founded on a level of customer loyalty that is precious to both parties, and can be vital to a vibrant future.

    Competitors can steal away a satisfied customer by offering a little bit more satisfaction, and can even lure away a delighted customer by offering a little more delight. But a loyal customer is one who sees his future emerging in part due to your commitment. ‘Win-win agreements’ and ‘building synergy’ become passwords for communication between your company and your customer. Adding long-term value is a goal you take responsibility for together.

    Training programs in third-kind companies highlight the principles of cooperation, collaboration, creativity, invention and design. Real customers and suppliers are featured and included in the real-time training programs.

    The customer is no longer sold to, nor simply served. He is genuinely cared for through a conscientious relationship that builds trust and momentum over time.

    Your service representatives do not ‘hard-sell’ or ‘push’ their products. Instead, they work closely with customers to ensure that appropriate products are ‘pulled’ from your organization. Customers also influence the development of your organization’s future competencies, capabilities, and commitments.

    Staff and management share the same mindset toward the third-kind customer: ‘We make your concerns our concerns.’ And in such an atmosphere of growing trust, your customer can make similar long-term and loyal commitments back to you. The customer comes to count on you, rely on you and evolve with you.

    In the fast-food industry, for example, McDonalds is now test-marketing an all-soy ‘veggie burger’. This is in direct response to customers who said, ‘We are becoming more health conscious and we want to eat healthier foods.’

    Third-kind insurance companies now reap an ever greater slice of the savings and investment pie. Agents no longer ask the simple question, ‘Do you want whole life, term or endowment?’ Instead leading companies provide their representatives with entirely new categories of investment and insurance products addressing individual concerns and responding to changing needs.

    While these are some of the success stories, other companies have missed the importance of third-kind service and teeter dangerously close to the edge of obsolescence.

    General Motors, for example, suffered a serious erosion of market share and loyalty before they heard what their customers were saying: ‘We want to become more efficient, more cost conscious, and more environmentally friendly.’ Other companies listened and delivered appropriately designed new cars. Customers responded, giving back profits and gains in market share.

    Intricate slide rules were famous for aiding calculation in my father’s day. Manufacturers diligently asked the engineers, ‘How do you want it?’ and built an impressive range of slide rules in response: wooden, plastic, steel, large, pocket-sized, flat, round and double-sided.

    But they never asked what customers were ‘becoming’, so didn’t hear their customers’ growing urge for things instantaneous and electronic. The firms that built a wide range of precision slide rules are now gone. Not one slide rule maker is among the calculator and computer manufacturers of today.

    From carbon paper to photocopies, buggy whips to stick shifts, typewriters to computers, copper wire to fiber optics, smoke signals to wireless, each evolution begs the question, ‘What happened to those companies?’ Did they make the switch? Did they survive? Did they move from ‘What do you want?’ to ‘What do you want to become?’

    In an environment of continually accelerating change, the only certainty we have is that the future will be different from today. The opportunities for evolution and collaboration with your customers will be endless.

    What about your company? Will you gradually go out of business with a standardized service system that provides efficient answers to questions your customers no longer ask?

    Or will you change the tone and tenor of your service encounters from the order taker asking, ‘What do you want?’ and the order maker’s, ‘How do you want it?’ to the loyal business partner who patiently and intelligently asks, ‘What do you want to become?’

    This change requires a new mindset and new methods for engaging with your customers and suppliers. It’s called Service Encounters of the Third Kind. Learn it.

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